Alternating feeding mechanism.



2 SHEETSSHEET I.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

T. WARD.

ALTERNATING FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 2, 1912.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cu, WASHINGTON. u. c.

T. WARD.

ALTERNATING FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.2, 1912.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET-2.

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pnrrnn snares nannrr prion 'II-IQIVIAS WARD, OF LUBEC, MAINE, ASSIGNOE TO AMERICAN CAN COMIPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. 1., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ALTERNATING FEEDING MECHANISM.

masses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ocean, 1915..

Application filed December 2, 1912. Serial No. 734,430.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS WARD, a subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain, resid ing in Lubec, in the county of Washington and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Alternating Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improved mechanism for feeding articles, such as'sardine cans, alternately from two chutes into a single, common chute.

lln the manufacture of seamless drawn cans, such as sardine cans, the drawing op eration leaves the cans with an irregular, rough edge which subsequently must be cut or trimmed in a trimming press, to insure that all the cans are of the proper size, and

in practice, it is found that a trimming press has approXimately double the capacity of a drawing press, so that for every two drawing presses only one trimming press is required to handle the output.

One object of this invention is to provide a mechanism which will govern the feed of cans, as they pass from the drawing presses to the trimming press, in such a way that the rough drawn cans as they come from two drawing presses along two chutes, will be fed alternately from these two chutes into a single common chute that conducts the cans to a trimming press, to thereby obtain the maximum efficiency in operating the drawing and trimming presses.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding mechanism for cans or other articles, which will automatically stop feeding the cans or be rendered inoperative, whenever a jam occurs, or any abnormal resistance is encountered in propelling the cans.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a device embodying my improvements, a

1 part of the structure at the bottom thereof being shown in section to more clearly illustrate the arrangement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, and Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical and horizontal sectional views, taken respectively on the lines 33 and 1% of Fig. 2.

As shown in the drawing, the feeding mechanism comprises a main cast member 10, having outer walls 11 and an inner, central rib 12 at the upper portion thereof, forming a pair of parallelly arranged guideways or chutes down which sardine cans 13 are adapted to pass as the same are fed from two drawing presses, (not shown), down the chutes 1 1, 14. At the lower portion of the member 10, the outer walls 11 are conv erged, as shown at 15, to thereby form a single passageway or chute common to the upper pair of chutes, and'which leads to the trnnming press. Secured to the lower end of the rib 12 is a spring-arm 16, adapted to prevent the sardine cans from becoming twisted as the same are fed from the upper chutes to the third or common lower chute, and a plurality of plates 17 are secured to the member 10, which project over the outer walls 11 and rib 12 to retain the cans in proper position in the chutes. Over the entrance to the lower common chute, and above the converging portions" 15, is placed a pivoted member 18, having spaced arms 19, 19, and held in normal position by means of a spring 20.

As the cans fall down the upper pair of chutes under the influence of gravity, the same are held temporarily by detents in the form of leaf springs 21 that project through slots 22 in the side walls 11 and engage the cans, whereby the cans are prevented from jamming in the feed mechanism. The cans are propelled in the chutes by means of a plurality of feed fingers 23 in the form of spokes secured to arotatable shaft 24, mounted in bearings 25, carried by supporting rods 26 slid-ably mounted in guide posts 27 formed integral with the main member 10. The shaft 2 1 with the feed fingers thereon is reciprocated by means of a rod 28, pivotally connected to the shaft and operated by a movable partof the trimming press by means ofa bar 29, adj ustably securedto the rod 28 by means of a nut and thread connection, as

shown at 30, whereby the path of travel of the reciprocating shaft may be regulated. The shaft 24 is threaded at one end, as shown at 31, and adjustably mounted thereon is a nut 32, adapted to regulate the compression of a coiled spring 33 mounted on the shaft 2 1 between the nut 32 and a washer 3 1. Mounted between the washer 34 and the adjustable bearing 25 is a fiber washer 35. On the opposite side of the bearing member 25 is mounted another fiber washer 35, held in position by means of a collar 36, secured to the shaft 24, as by means of a set screw 37.

By means of the washers, coiled spring and nut arrangement above described, the

amount of friction tending to prevent the shaft 24 from rotating, may be varied and adjusted at will, for the purpose hereinafter described.

The feed fingers 23, as clearly shown in the drawings, are angularly offset from each other ninety degrees, so that when one of them is in'position to engage a can in one chute, the other will be in an inoperative position, and in order to alternate the positions of these feed pins 23, the shaft has secured "thereto at its end a hub 38, having four turning fingers 39 thereon which are adapted to be operated duringv the upstroke of the shaft by means of a spring-controlled pawl ortrip 10 which, as will be obvious, allows the turning pins to pass thereby on the downstroke, but will engage the latter and thereby rotate the shaft a quarter turn on the upstroke. The trip 40 is pivotally mounted on a pin 41, secured to a bracket 42, the latter being secured to the body member 10. Also mounted on the member 10 at a point below the pawl or tripv 4:0 is a shorter spring-controlled pawl or trip 43, the func tion of which is to insure the proper positioning of the turning pins 39 for engagement with the upper pawl or trip 40, and preventing the ends of the turning pins from striking directly against the upper pawl or trip 40.

The operation of the device is as follows: On the downstroke of the shaft 24:, one of the feed pins will engage the inside of a can at the lower end thereof (see Fig. 3), and will pull the same by the detent 21, whereupon the can, under the influence of gravity will fall down the chute until the upper end of the'can engages the pin. The can is then carried back by the pin on theupstroke, until one of the turning pins 39 is engaged by the trip 40, which will rotate the feed pin a sufficient amount to release the can, which will then fall, under the influence of gravity, down into the lower chute and thence to the trimming press. As the feed pin in one of the upper chutes is turned so as to release a can held by it, the feed pin in the adjacent chute will be brought into operative position to engage a can in that chute, and upon the next downward stroke of the shaft, the foregoing operation will be repeated, thus feed ing the cans alternately from the pair of chutes to the single chute leading to the trimming press. If, at any time, an abnormal resistance is encountered in propelling a can, the feed pin in engagement therewith will yield, due to the frictional washer arrangement on the shaft 24, a sufficient amount to pass overthe edge of the can, thereby preventing damage to any of the parts.

Although I have herein described what I now consider the preferred form of my invention, yet I am awarethat various'changes and modifications may be made in the parts and details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all such changes and modifications are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

It will also be apparent that my improvements may be adapted for feeding articles from more than two chutes into a single common chute, by duplicating the feed lingers for each additional chute and arranging the turning fingers at the end of the shaft to correspond with the number of chutes, and, if desirable, the turning fingers may be so arranged and operated that;

articles will be fed from one chute into the common chute at a greater or less rate than they are fed from another of the chutes, that is to say, in the case where there are two chutes merging into a single common chute, as shown in the structure in the drawing, the cans may be fed at the rate of two cans from one shute to one can from the other chute.

I claim l. A. feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a plurality of chutes arranged side by side and all leading to a common chute; means for feeding articles successively from each one of the plurality of chutes to the common 'chute, said means including feed fingers for each of said chutes, all of said fingers being connected and moving longitudinally of the chute together and being differently arranged for the different chutes, so that when those adapted to propel articles in one of said plurality of chutes are in operative position,.those adapted to propel articles in the other of the plurality of chutes are in inoperative position; whereby the accurate alternate feeding of articles is effected.

2. A feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a plurality of chutes all leading to a common chute; and reciprocating means for feeding articles successively, and in rotation from each of said plurality of chutes to the common chute, said means including a rotatable shaft having feed fingers thereon, some of nhich are adapted to propel articles in one chute and the others of which are adapted to propel articles in other of said plurality of chutes, said feed fingers being angularly offset from each other and the fingers of one chute being connected with the fingers of the other chute by said shaft.

A feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a pair of chutes arranged side by side down which articles are adapted to feed by gravity, said chutes leading to a common third chute; yieldable detents, in the first named chutes, adapted to temporarily arrest articles as the same pass therethrough; and means for lit" feeding articles with accurate alternation and in a direction parallel with the. pair of chutes, from the latter to the third chute, substantially as specified.

at. A feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a pair of chutes arranged side by side down which articles are adapted to feed by gravity, said chutes merging into a common third chute; detents in said first named chutes adapted to arrest articles as the same pass therethrough; and combined reciprocatingand rotary means for feeding articles in a direction parallel to the pair of chutes from the latter to the common third chute, substantially as specified.

A fee-ding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a pair of chutes arranged side by side; a common third chute to which the pair of chutes deliver; and means for feeding articles alter nately from said pair of chutes to the third chute, said means including a plurality of feed fingers connected and arranged so that the positioning of the fingers of one chute is accompanied by a different positioning of the connected fingers of the other chute, and when those adapted to propel articles in one of the pair of chutes are in operative position, those adapted to propel articles in the other of the pair of chutes are in inoperative position, substantially as specified.

6. A feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: two guide-ways along which articles are adapted to be fed, the same merging into a common guideway; a movable feeding element adapted to engage articles in said two guideways alternately and propel the same toward said common guide-way; power mechanism for actuating said element; and adjustable frictional devices adapted to permit the power mechanism to operate while the engaging end of said element remains immovable when more than a predetermined amount of resistance is encountered in propelling an article along one of said guide-ways; substantially as specified.

7. A feeding apparatus of the character described, comprising, in combination: a pair of chutes arranged side by side and merging into a common third chute; and reciprocating means for feeding articles alternately from the pair of chutes to the common third chute, said means including a rotatable shaft having feed fingers thereon, some of which are adapted to propel articles in one chute, and the others of which are adapted to pro pel articles in the other chute, said feed fingers being angularly offset from each other, whereby the articles are fed on alternate strokes, substantially as specified.

8. A feeding apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: a pair of guide-ways arranged side by side and merging into a common third guide-Way; a bodily reciprocal, rotating shaft having feed fingers thereon angularly offset and adapted to propel articles in the pair of guide-ways; turning pins secured to said shaft and adapted to rotate the latter; a trip for operating said turning pins; and frictional means yieldingly preventing said shaft from rotation while the feed fingers thereon are propelling articles in the guide-ways, substantially as specified.

9. A feeding apparatus of the cha'acter described comprising, in combination: a pair of chutes arranged side by side down which articles are adapted to feed by gravity, said chutes merging into a common third chute; a yieldable detent in each of said first named chutes adapted to arrest articles in their passage through the chutes; a bodily reciprocal, rotatable shaft, having angular-1y arranged feed fingers secured thereto and disposed over said pair of chutes; means for rotating said shaft during its bodily reciprocating movement; and an adjustable, frictional device for yieldingly preventing said shaft from rotation, substantially as specified.

10. In an apparatus for feeding cans, in combination: can delivering chutes arranged side by side; a receiving chute communicating with and adapted to receive cans from each of the said delivering chutes; a rotary finger for each delivering chute each adapted to propel cans in its chute, the several fingers being connected and turnable together; a power device for reciprocating bodily the fingers lengthwise of the delivery chutes; detents for temporarily holding the cans in the delivery chutes until they are propelled by the fingers; means for giving all of the fingers a partial turn at each bodily reciprocation; and a frictional yielding connection be tween the fingers and their actuating means.

11. In a can-feeding apparatus, in combination: a chute along which the cans are caused to pass; a detent for arresting the cans at a predetermined point; a feeding finger for causing the cans to be fed past the said detent successively; a power device for actuating the said finger to give it a feeding movement; and yielding power-transmitting means between the power device and the finger, arranged to have force enough to overcome the resistance of the detent and to feed the cans, and to yield and permit the operation of the power device without the feed operation of the finger in case the cans are otherwise arrested in the chute.

THOMAS WVARD.

Witnesses:

CHAS. C. lVINToN, HARRY L. l/VALTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents Washington, I). C. 

